Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dust cover for a firearm. The dust cover encloses an opening such as an ejection port of the firearm. The dust cover is selectively engageable and removable such that the dust cover system can be removed for maintenance purposes such as replacement of broken springs that are used to bias the dust cover against the ejection port of the firearm.
Description of Related Art
Dust covers are used to cover the ejection port of a firearm. The cover is biased towards the firearm and pivots out of the way when a spent casing is ejected out of the ejection port.
The dust covers often break or have some other type of malfunction. For example, a torsional spring biases the dust cover towards the firearm to enclose the ejection port. However, the torsional spring undergoes significant stress due to the high ejection velocity of a spent cartridge and fatigues into failure often. When this occurs, the dust cover usually just pivots out of the way of the ejection port and is no longer functional.
Removal and replacement of the dust cover is difficult. The most common method involves using a punch to punch out a pin that engages the dust cover with the firearm and replacing with a new dust cover. The fail rate is high enough on the torsional springs that many users entirely remove the dust cover and use the firearm without any cover at all. This represents a safety and performance issue that is undesirable. Additionally, sometimes removal of the dust cover requires breakdown of other portions and parts of the firearm, further complicating the process.